Former Louisville football star quarterback Teddy Bridgewater’s recovery could be in its final phase.

Bridgewater started this season on the Minnesota Vikings’ physically unable to perform list, making him ineligible to play for the first six weeks. Now, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reports, citing a source, that Bridgewater will in fact return after those six games, perhaps for an Oct. 22 home date against the Baltimore Ravens.

The Vikings' starting quarterback to enter the season, Sam Bradford, has been dealing with a knee injury, putting backup Case Keenum in charge of the offense.

Florio's report says that “the Vikings likely will proceed with caution. At some point, however, necessity may supersede caution. If, for example, Keenum gets injured and Bradford doesn’t get healed, the Vikings may decide to do what they have to do to get Bridgewater back on the field.”

Thirteen months ago, Bridgewater suffered a horrific knee injury in practice, wiping out his third NFL season and likely more. His recovery has been tenuous. The 24-year-old Miami native has not played since Jan. 3, 2015.

It has appeared at various points since then that Bridgewater could miss two full seasons. But his return this fall could help the Vikings, who went 8-8 last season without him and are off to a 2-1 start this year. When Bridgewater went down last summer, Minnesota traded for Bradford, who started under center until he injured his knee two weeks ago. Keenum has started the past two games.

When the Vikings placed Bridgewater on the PUP list in July, they sparked optimism about Bridgewater’s return. The team has not yet commented on when that could be.